Since 1966, the BolognaRagazzi Award has been among the world’s most highly regarded international prizes in the sector of children’s publishing. Aimed at selecting the finest illustrated children’s books, the award honours the best productions in terms of their graphic and editorial qualities, becoming a leading international launch pad for authors and illustrators thanks to the high profile recognition that the winners receive during the fair.
Winning the prize or gaining a special mention means extraordinary visibility for a title in the publishing world, leading to the sale of rights in many new countries. This fact is confirmed by publishers whose winning books proudly bear the award’s logo on the cover as a sign of prestige and international recognition.
There are four main Award categories: Fiction, Non Fiction, Opera Prima (for unpublished authors and illustrators) and, from this year, the new permanent BCBF category Comics, divided into 3 sections: Early Reader, Middle Grade, and Young Adult.
The jury is also asked to give a special New Horizons award to a particularly innovative book, which opens its eyes to new horizons. Every year, the BRAW features also one or two special categories.
The special category of the BolognaRagazzi Award 2020 is dedicated to CINEMA. After a two-year project about art, architecture and design books, the BRAW opens to the Seventh Art, in order to focus on the international heritage of children’s books that tell the different sides of the world of Cinema: from history to technique and unforgettable protagonists.
More than 600 titles have been awarded and mentioned for the BRAW in this half century and every year over a thousand books arrive in Bologna to be judged by an international jury of experts. Retracing the history of the great “BRAW library” means to have a privileged point of view to outline an international map of the publishing scene: themes, trends, formats and techniques documenting the aesthetic and cultural changes that have distinguished children’s publishing, over the years and across the globe.
The full collection of the prize-winning books is held by the Salaborsa Ragazzi Library in Bologna. The complete list of winners and mentioned titles can be accessed here.
2020 Special Category: CINEMA
The special category of the BRAW 2020 is dedicated to cinema.
With this spotlight on the finest children’s picture books on cinema, the BCBF also celebrates the centennial, in 2020, of Federico Fellini’s birth. Cinema is a key part in people and young people’s life. Like a good book, a good film nourishes imagination and creative thinking.
That is why many children’s publishers worldwide are bringing out more and more compelling stories about this medium helping new generations become cinephiles and discover the many secret delights of film making.